Escapers, escapers!!!...

[jts]

No one really cares about your sarcastic and mocking comments. If you haven't got something constructive to say, why do you participate in the conversation?

People are angry. They feel disrespected by escapers. It's natural to feel angry when you think you've been disrespected. I am validating their feelings - which is the first step towards emotional recovery - and trying to find a forum in which they can explore their feelings further while watching sloppy 6-dan blitz. I think in a broader sense, it is you who are being disrespectful, by refusing to listen when people tell you that they have emotional difficulties when they play Go. You want to treat the symptom, I want to treat the disease.

[dfunkt]

No one really cares about your sarcastic and mocking comments. If you haven't got something constructive to say, why do you participate in the conversation?

People are angry. They feel disrespected by escapers. It's natural to feel angry when you think you've been disrespected. I am validating their feelings - which is the first step towards emotional recovery - and trying to find a forum in which they can explore their feelings further while watching sloppy 6-dan blitz. I think in a broader sense, it is you who are being disrespectful, by refusing to listen when people tell you that they have emotional difficulties when they play Go. You want to treat the symptom, I want to treat the disease.

At least you made me smile this time.

[hyperpape]

An unfinished game is like a sour taste in your mouth.

But making it impossible to finish a game after 5 minutes of absence causes more unfinished games, not fewer.

Indeed. I'm not trying to argue for a strict escaping policy. I think KGS gets it right for me.

But I also think that there's plenty of decent reasons why people prefer their own systems. No amount of reasoning is going to change that.

[dumbrope]

Rather than cast stones towards KGS , let's get the camel out of our own eye. How are we going to punish escapers in L19 Malkovich games?

The guilt consumes me. I resumed my 2.

[Charlie]

An unfinished game is like a sour taste in your mouth.

But making it impossible to finish a game after 5 minutes of absence causes more unfinished games, not fewer.

I disagree. It makes no difference.

If the game is forfeit after five minutes, connection problems can lead to unfinished games. If you have connection problems on KGS, your opponent invariably considers you to be an escaper and leaves to start another game and the game is never resumed, even if you do reconnect.

At least the hard five minute rule leaves no ambiguity: you know you have no more or less than five minutes to reconnect or the game is forfeit. With the wishy-washy KGS escaper rule, it's pretty random whether your opponent waits for you to come back or not.

[Splatted]

It's not random; let them know you have a poor connection and almost everyone will wait. (A note on your profile page suffices for this.)

[Splatted]

Perhaps I should be a little more specific in my question: Are those of you that dislike the KGS system angry because it doesn't punish every single escape? And if so, what's so different about a system that awards a loss the first time someone leaves a game, and one that starts adjudicating losses after a person has left a certain number?

There are a number of quite obvious differences:

- The escaper can start another game right after his escape. You have to have good nerves to not get angry in this situation. Caution: do not insult the escaper in this case - he can let you get banned! (happenened to me once)

He can start a new game anyway. What does this have to do with whether the escaped game is forfeited?

- You will have an unfinished game in your list, which lets you look like an escaper yourself

Not really since it's the same for everyone.

- I claim that it is very rarely used for its purpose (adjournment), but more often it is abused by escapers

I use ii all the time, and not just for the leeway in reconnection time. It's fun to open up unfinished games and see if the opponent appears.

- The system constantly leads to moderator involvement through complaints

This isn't a fault with the system. At worst it's a symptom of those faults.

[Redundant]

For me at least, I find the KGS system annoying because I prefer my rated games to be in a competitive environment. There isn't a single online game I've played where leaving a rated or ranked game isn't met with huge penalties. If, on the other hand, you view rated games as just a crutch for matchmaking, then the KGS system is fine.

Most online games solve this issue by having a hidden rating that is used for matchmaking, and a public rating (or something similar) that comes from rated games.

[DJLLAP]

Most online games solve this issue by having a hidden rating that is used for matchmaking, and a public rating (or something similar) that comes from rated games.

Can you give a couple examples of games that do this?

[Redundant]

Most online games solve this issue by having a hidden rating that is used for matchmaking, and a public rating (or something similar) that comes from rated games.

Can you give a couple examples of games that do this?

League of legends used to give you a numerical elo for ranked games, but now just gives you a position in a league system (So you advance from bronze to silver, gold, platinum, diamond, challenger). Starcraft 2 has a similar system also, except I'm not sure how their leagues work except there's bronze through gold masters and grandmasters.

[hyperpape]

In my time on KGS, I think I've been able to resume and complete between a third and a half of my games where someone disappeared.

[Bantari]

From hat I understand there are two principal ways of handling the escaper problem:
1. Try to appease the non-escaping player (award win, punish the escaper, etc.) or
2. Try to preserve the integrity of rating system.

I think KGS is attempting the latter, even though players might not be very appeased.
Its a matter of philosophy.